How does a brand become part of the lives of young, health-oriented consumers who spend more of their time engaged in outdoor activities and the social scene than watching the tube?

For Odwalla, the healthy smoothies and fruit juices brand acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2001, close integration of social media and targeted events is paying off, according to Chris Brandt, VP, marketing for the brand.

While Odwalla's marketing mix includes some traditional media advertising, as well as PR and in-store POS, a primary thrust in recent times has been making a splash at festivals that draw ...

Suzuki is launching a series of promotional programs under a banner called Suzuki AllPoints. The program, for which Suzuki created a microsite at SuzukiAuto.com, comprises a palette of programs wherein people can earn points toward an array of prizes by using social media platforms and uploading content.

Registered users can earn points and sweepstakes entries for several program activities. Depending on the activity players can earn from 10 to 100 points, 250 per day, max.

Tom's of Maine is introducing consumers to its newest product line via a social media campaign.

The Kennebunk, Maine-based personal care company currently has ads running on Facebook's news feed page directing consumers to a contest promoting its "Wicked Fresh" toothpaste and mouthwash, which debuted on shelves in late April. The company is also promoting the contest on Twitter. The company spokesperson did not return emails or phone calls seeking information.

The promotion -- which includes a contest, sweepstakes and instant win game – runs through Oct. 8. Consumers can enter the sweepstakes through the "That's Wicked Fresh!" ...

RadioShack says it will put "Bullseye Mobile" kiosks in the majority of Target stores around the country, in an effort to further build its presence in the mobile phone business.

"It's a genius cross-branding move," Cathy Hotka, a retail branding consultant based in Washington D.C., tells Marketing Daily. "Target is known both for its high traffic and desirable demographic, and kiosks selling high-demand items do really well—this seems like smart partnering."

And Radio Shack increasingly wants to be seen as a mobile-phone destination. In addition to kiosks in such retailers as Walmart's Sam's Clubs, it is also a ...

Joshua Siegel, YouTube product manager, says the video site has increased the length of clips people can upload from 10 minutes to 15 minutes, attributing the change to Google's success in developing a Content ID system.

Content ID identifies copyright issues for U.S. movie studios, music labels and more than 1,000 other global partners, and helps to protect and monetize the content.

Citing weak cereal sales in North America and the U.K., fallout from a late-June voluntary recall of 28 million boxes of cereal, and a supply disruption that is still affecting Eggo sales, Kellogg Company reported a 15% drop in net income, to $302 million, for Q2 2010.

The company also lowered its full-year EPS growth (on a currency-neutral basis) to 8% to 10%, from its previous guidance of 11% to 13%.

North American cereal sales dipped 13%, and Eggo's troubles drove a 9% decline in N.A. frozen/specialty sales, although snack sales in the region rose 1%.

The company, Recorded Future, scours Web sites, blogs and Twitter accounts across the Internet to find the relationships between people, organizations, actions and incidents, according to Wired. In a white paper, the company explains its temporal analytics engine goes beyond search by looking at invisible links between documents that talk about the same, or related, entities and events.

The investment made in Recorded Future by Google Ventures, and In-Q-Tel, which handles similar duties for the CIA and intelligence community, appears to be the first time the joint business/government entities have funded a startup.

Mazda is taking to social media to launch its latest vehicle, Mazda 2. This week the company launches a branded social game on Facebook, "DriverVille" via Doner, which actually no longer has the account. The effort is a virtual multi-player game where players get customizable "Your Inner Driver" avatars and use them to drive virtual cars to win Driver Bucks for virtual products and real weekly sweepstakes prizes. Within the platform are mini-games such as racing at a digital version of the Mazda Raceway at (the real one's in Laguna Seca, CA) and things like a quest to get snow ...

Kia Motors America is taking the hamsters social. The company, which has been promoting its Soul five-door, is doing an online video contest, "Who's Next?" to find what the company is calling "The next big internet star." The contest is aligned with the Black Sheep music video campaign for Soul in which hip hop hamsters sing "You can get with this, or you can get with that" comparing the virtues of the Soul vehicle with rolling appliances. Participants have to create their own video that use the Kia Soul as a thematic idea, and the tag, "A new way to ...